The Dragons Revenge (Tales from the New Earth #2) (4 page)

The wizard leaped to his
feet, staring at Kronk.

“
What happened?”
he asked frantically.

Kronk stared at the spot
where Aeris had been hovering a moment before.

“
I don't know,
master. Something feels wrong. I..."

The little guy froze in
place for a moment and then looked up at Simon with an expression of
anguish.

“
Master!” he
called and then he was gone.

“
What the hell is
going on!” Simon roared as he looked around the room
frantically.

He was alone.

It's an attack of some
kind, he thought to himself. This must be what Clara warned me about.
The elementals must have been returned to their own realms. Simon
refused to believe that they had been destroyed.

He knew that once a wizard
had summoned an elemental, all he needed to do to call them back was
to say their name. So he backed away from the kitchen table, stared
at the place he wanted his friends to return to and spoke loudly and
firmly.

“
Kronk, I need you.”

A minute passed but
nothing happened.

“
Kronk! Return to
me. Now!”

Nothing.

“
Aeris? Can you come
home please?” he asked plaintively.

It wasn't working.

The summoning spell. All I
need is the summoning spell to get them back, he thought, feeling the
first touch of panic.

He went through the list
of spells in his mind, or at least he tried to. But there was nothing
there. It was like reaching for a memory that was simply not there
anymore.

Just like when he'd first
begun using magic; his mind was a blank slate. Back then, before the
gods of Justice had given him the knowledge of every spell a
high-level wizard knew, he had to memorize each spell first before he
cast it, and then it would fade from his mind again.

Simon walked back to his
chair and sat down abruptly, thinking it through.

Was that it? Had the evil
gods erased the spells from his mind? That thought worried him but a
second thought close on its heels chilled him to the bone.

Or had they cut off his
access to magic entirely?

How to test it? Maybe if I
use Bene-Dunn-Gal, it can boost my power.

Simon looked across the
room to where the staff leaned against the wall next to the door.

He stood up and quickly
walked to the staff. He picked it up and knew at once that something
was wrong.

Sheathed in bronze and
made of heavy wood, the staff had always felt as light as a feather
in his hand. Now he had to pick it up with both hands just to hold it
upright.

He held up the staff with
a grunt of effort, but his mind remained blank. The staff was just an
inert length of wood and metal.

Simon put Bene-Dunn-Gal
back in its place. His stomach was clenched with fear but he would
not allow himself to panic.

I need to memorize a spell
to see if the magic is still there, he thought. But he was reluctant
to try. Without his power, he was, he thought, basically useless. The
only reason he no longer missed being the big strong man he'd once
been before his Change was because magic made him so much more
powerful.

But now? He was a skinny,
weak teenager who probably couldn't even defend himself against a
grown man.

Come on, Simon, he
thought. You have to know, one way or the other.

He nodded to himself and
walked hurriedly to the stairs.

On the second floor, he
went into his study and opened the shutters to let in the bright,
cold afternoon light. Then he sat at his desk and picked up his
spell-book.

Well, he thought with a
trace of grim amusement, I never thought I'd need
you
again.

The dog-eared bundle of
pages had been fastened together with thick cord and Simon carefully
turned each page, looking at the symbols and runes that he had
written down each time he'd discovered a spell that actually worked.

He was tempted to try the
Summoning spell at once, but common sense stopped him.

Try the easiest, least
complicated one you have, he thought. The one that uses the least
amount of power.

He turned back to the
front of the book and looked at the first few pages. He stared at the
simple spell he'd called Sparkle. All it did was create small sparks
that were basically useless.

Except when you used it to
get the black dragon's attention, he thought with some satisfaction.
But then he'd had Bene-Dunn-Gal to boost his power. Now? Now it was
the most useless and least powerful spell he had.

Taking a deep breath,
Simon read through the runes that comprised the spell, firmly locking
them into his mind.

“
Okay,” he
said aloud. “Let's see how bad the situation really is.”

He chanted the incantation
in a firm voice, with only a hint of a nervous quiver, and then
intoned the word of command.

“
Invectis,
”
he said. And then waited.

After
a minute he sat back in the leather chair, the springs squealing
almost in sympathy.

“
I'm
screwed,” he muttered.

Nothing
had happened. No sparks. No reaction of any kind.

He
was powerless.

Simon
sat in his chair and stared out at the bright afternoon. His mind was
a jumble of disconnected thoughts. What do I do now, was the most
prevalent one.

Finally
he stood up, creaking like an old man as his joints had stiffened
while he sat, closed the shutters and bolted them.

The
room darkened immediately and he glanced at a candle, willing it to
light thoughtlessly.

Nothing
happened and he sighed in frustration.

No
power, Simon, remember? He shrugged and wandered back downstairs to
the fireplace. If he couldn't light things with his mind anymore,
he'd better make sure that the fire was maintained. It got awfully
cold in the tower when it went out.

He
arranged fresh logs carefully in the fireplace, lit several candles
to brighten the room and made more tea. Then he sat down to try and
organize his thoughts.

The
gods of Chaos had failed in their attempt to kill him using the
dragons. But they had succeeded in rendering him powerless. And in
this increasingly dangerous world, the result might well be the same.

Monsters
of old were returning to the New Earth. Undead now stalked the night
near graveyards, seeking the warmth of the living. And many animals,
like some humans, had Changed into something...else. Some were
benevolent, like his horses, but others were not.

Simon
sat up with a jerk. The horses!

He'd
been so used to having Kronk around to care for Chief, Tammy and
Sunshine, his three horses, that he'd forgotten all about them. They
must have been freaking out when the dragons attacked and that was an
hour ago or more now.

He
got up and went to a large cupboard next to his cast-iron stove and
pulled out his long winter jacket. It was thick and lined with fur
and covered him almost to his ankles. It also had a hood to block the
cold. Simon hated cold ears.

He
slipped off his simple shoes and put on boots and then headed out
into the bitter cold.

The
stable was attached to the back of the tower, on the lake side, and
was large enough to house a half-dozen horses. To one side was a
storage shed, made of stone like the stable and tower, stuffed with
hay laid up for the winter.

Simon
bustled into the stable, the powerful smell of horse manure
assaulting his nostrils.

The
three horses nickered as he entered, their heads hanging over the
doors of their box stalls. Simon went to each one in turn and patted
and stroked them reassuringly. They didn't seem the worse for wear
and looked relaxed.

It
had been a while since he'd had to muck out the stalls, but since
Kronk was gone, temporarily he thought quickly, Simon took off his
jacket, grabbed a shovel and bucket and got to work.

When
he was done and had dumped the manure on the pile next to the stable,
he pumped out fresh water for the three horses, made sure they had
enough hay for the night and chatted away to all of them in turn.

Each
had Changed since the old Earth days, but Chief was the most
striking. His hooves had split and now sported claws, his mane and
tail were spikes instead of hair and two horns, one over each eye,
sprouted from his forehead. He was an image out of a fairy tale.

Still
a big goof though, Simon thought with amusement as the stallion
craned his head up for the wizard to scratch under his chin.

“
You're
a big suck, you know that?” he asked Chief with a grin. The
stallion just snorted and shoved him lightly with his head, being
careful not to impale Simon on his horns.

“
I'm
sorry to tell you guys, but Kronk's going to be gone for a while,”
he told them seriously. He wasn't quite sure how intelligent the
Change had made them, but he did know that they were much smarter
than they'd been in the old days.

All
three sets of large brown eyes watched him silently.

“
He's
been...” He hesitated and then hurried on. “Called away,
I guess. But don't worry. I'm sure he'll be home soon.”

Simon
felt tears rise in his eyes and blinked them away, feeling foolish.

“
Yeah,
he'll be home soon. For sure,” he muttered.

Then
he grabbed his coat, waved at the horses and headed out into the
cold.

The
sun was dipping toward the horizon as Simon walked back around the
tower. He paused to examine the wall where the dragon had fallen.
Kronk and the other earthen had repaired it perfectly and, if it
wasn't for the shining puddles of frozen water where the snow had
melted, he'd never have known there'd been any damage at all.

He
made sure the gate was closed and sealed tightly and then retreated
into the tower, shivering. The air was getting colder by the minute
as the sun set and the winter night began.

Simon
lit more candles and built up the fire before he made his dinner.
Dried venison, a gift from Clara's people, and fried potatoes from
his stores in the cellar. He decided to open a bottle of wine as
well. Alone for the first time in years, he felt a need for some
liquid courage.

After
his meal, Simon sat in front of the fire in his old easy chair,
sipping his wine and listening to the flames hiss and crackle at each
other.

It's
so quiet, he thought as he stared soberly at the fire. So quiet.

He'd
never been a garrulous person, back in the old days. Just a handful
of friends, with Daniel being the closest of them. But maybe that was
why he'd depended so much on Kronk, yes and Aeris as well, cranky
though he often was, for company.

Their
point of view had always been just different enough to be
interesting. He'd appreciated the earth elemental's work around the
tower, but it was his friendship that Simon had enjoyed the most.

But
now? He glanced sadly around the room, eyes flicking to the kitchen
table where the pair had stood most often when they talked. Now he
was alone and there was no way to know when, or even if, he would
ever see his little friends again.

Simon
gulped down the last of his wine, thought about pouring himself
another glass and decided not to. He was depressed enough without it.

So
what to do now? There were at least two months of winter left to get
through alone. He had enough supplies to survive, but the solitude
might drive him mad before spring.

“
Don't
exaggerate, former wizard,” he growled to himself.

There
was a bigger worry. What would the old gods of Chaos do now? They
must know that he was defenseless. Would that satisfy them? One day,
when the four remaining primal dragons had finished wiping out
humanity in their territories, one or more of them would come to
North America with their brood and finish off the remainder of the
race, including him.

The
question was, did they hate him so much for his destruction of the
black dragon to want him dead sooner?

Simon
closed his eyes tiredly and slumped in his chair. There was no way to
know. All he could do was take things one day at a time.

What
he did decide to do, though, was visit Clara and her village. Chief
was strong enough to get through the snow-covered forest and he was
sure that the cleric was worried about their loss of communication.

And
who knows, he thought. Maybe she'll have some ideas on how he could
regain his power.

He
snorted. Yeah, right.

Simon
heaved himself up, rinsed out his glass and blew out all but one of
the candles. He checked the locks on the door and windows before
taking the candle and walking slowly up to bed, his footsteps echoing
hollowly as he went.